


The Dance

by CaptainParisStarr



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: First Time, Friends to Lovers, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-11
Updated: 2020-12-11
Packaged: 2021-03-10 21:15:47
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,563
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28013790
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CaptainParisStarr/pseuds/CaptainParisStarr
Summary: Arthur asks Merlin to help him learn the steps of a new dance sweeping the courts.
Relationships: Merlin/Arthur Pendragon (Merlin)
Kudos: 91





	The Dance

"You want me to do what?" Merlin blinked at Arthur.

"Help me learn this dance." Arthur looked down at the papers scattered across his desk, detailing the steps of a new dance sweeping the courts of Albion.

"Why me? Wouldn't a woman be more appropriate as a dance partner?"

"Because only in front of you can I humiliate myself and still retain my honor and dignity." Arthur pushed away from the table. "Please, Merlin, I have never been gifted at dancing. I can't trust anyone else to keep what will happen a secret."

"What, do you trip over your feet or something?" Merlin snorted with laughter, unable to believe it of Arthur.

"Yes. It took me years to learn where to put my feet during swordplay, and dance still trips me up." Arthur sighed. "I can't have that happen in front of my court, Merlin."

"I've never danced before." Merlin studied Arthur closely.

"Then we can learn together." He held out his hand for Merlin.

"Fine." Merlin's heart raced as he took Arthur's hand, and stuttered as he felt a hand settle onto his waist.

His heart slowed as they began to dance, and Arthur proved his words; he had to stop every few minutes to check a step, and while he never actually tripped, his movements were slow and awkward. But as the sun moved across the sky, his confidence grew as his steps smoothed out, and the distance between them shrank.

"I think you have it now." Merlin's chest gently touched Arthur's, and he could feel the other man's heart beat in time with his own.

A hand gently lifted his chin. "I know this couldn't have been the easiest thing I have ever asked of you, so Merlin, thank you." He stilled, peering into Merlin's eyes from only inches away, his other hand pressed into the small of Merlin's back.

Merlin couldn't breathe; he felt as though time itself had frozen around them, pinning him down as they gazed into each other's eyes.

In the end, Arthur moved first, closing the gap between them to brush his lips against Merlin's.

It was as though fate had guided them to this moment; a first kiss could never have been more perfect. Surging up, he sealed his mouth against Arthur's, his body pressing into the young Kings.

"Merlin." The name was breathed out on a sigh as Arthur pulled away. "We can't."

"Why not?" Merlin felt as though his head was stuffed full of cotton.

"We're both male." Arthur's hips pressed firmly against Merlin's, until they could both feel exactly how male the other was. "It's not legal. I'm the King; I can't break the law on a whim. What example will I be setting for my people?"

"Change the law, it's stupid. There is nothing wrong with how we feel, Arthur." Merlin kissed him again.

"It's not that simple, Merlin." Arthur sighed, his forehead resting against Merlin's.

"What if no one knows?" 

"Whether or not people know is hardly the point, Merlin." Arthur looked away, his expression anguished. "I'm sorry I never should have gotten this close to you."

Merlin had a sudden flash of insight. "Does the law differentiate between kissing and sex?"

"No…?" Arthur frowned.

"Then we already broke it so why not use this night just for us." He nodded towards the window where the last rays of sunlight were chasing one another across the floor.

"Oh!" Arthur's eyes widened as he understood what Merlin was getting at. "Bed, now."

Merlin pulled away, slipping his hand into Arthur's as he led the way to the bed that until now he had never been allowed to lie on. "Dressed or undressed?"

"Dressed. I want to undress you myself." Arthur's eyes roved over Merlin from head to toe as the warlock lay back on the bed, then he followed, laying himself down beside Merlin.

"Then can I undress you?" Merlin swallowed hard, praying that the question wasn't too forward.

"Why so shy? Don't you usually help me undress?" Arthur ran his thumb over Merlin's cheek.

"Not everything." Merlin turned pink.

"I wish we could be together." Arthur moved closer, removing Merlin's neckerchief before kissing him deeply, his tongue sliding into Merlin's mouth for the first time.

“You mean as husbands?” Merlin sighed as Arthur broke the kiss to nibble his neck.

“Yes. Sit up.” Arthur lifted Merlin’s shirt up over his head before running his hands over Merlin’s bare chest.

“Your turn.” Merlin shyly pushed Arthur’s hands away, then removed his Kings shirt as an excuse.

“Merlin, you have no need to be shy.”

“But… I’m not…”

“Muscular? No, I’ll grant you that. But you are no less beautiful for it.”

“Please, don’t lie to me.”

“I’m not lying. Merlin, you’re beautiful.” Arthur kissed him again, then worked his way lower.

“Arthur, what are you doing?” Merlin frowned, too inexperienced to even guess what Arthur was up to.

“Making you feel good.” Arthur kissed his way down to the top of Merlin’s pants.

“Arthur?” Merlin gasped as a hand slid over the front of his pants, then began to work the lacings open. He had only a moment to get used to the idea that Arthur was about to see him completely naked, then his pants and footwear were gone. 

“Hey, no covering up. You’ve gotten to see me nude several times, and I never made a fuss over it.” He gently stopped Merlin’s hands from covering his cock.

“I thought that was because I never really  _ looked _ at you when you were naked in the bath.” Merlin looked away shyly as Arthur slid back up the bed after realizing Merlin was not ready for what he had planned, and placing Merlin’s hands on his hips.

“You did look, I know you did. You just never stared at me, and I do appreciate that. Merlin, I appreciate every little way you make me feel like I’m any man in the world, any friend in the world, and not just a King. Makes me think that my hopes for a peaceful future are justified.” Arthur kissed him again, soft and tender, as Merlin began to untie the lacings on his pants.

“I thought you hated it when I treated you as an ordinary man?” Merlin frowned as he pushed Arthur’s pants down.

“Only when you do it in public.” Arthur sighed as Merlin’s hand wrapped around him without coaxing, and smiled softly at the wonder in Merlin’s eyes.

“It’s big!”

“Yes.” Arthur kissed him again. “Is that a problem?”

“No, not at all. You just, you know… don’t seem that big soft. Not that I’m complaining!” Merlin hastily added.

“No, of course not.” Arthur’s smile was gentle as he reached for the scented oil. “You’ve never been with anyone before, have you?”

“Kissing, nothing more.” Merlin looked away.

“That’s nothing to be ashamed of; it’s better to wait for the right person than regret being with the wrong one.”

“Yes, I think so too.” Merlin sighed as an oil slicked hand began to stroke them both at once, then fell away as both sets of hips began to move in sync. “Are you not going to put it inside me?”

“Next time; I don’t want to move too fast with you; you mean too much to me.” Arthur kissed him again and again, the kisses a counterpoint to the rhythm of their hips as Merlin melted against him. His legs slid apart bonelessly, allowing Arthur in closer, loving the solid weight of him against his own slight but strong body.

When his head fell back, Arthur moved the kisses down his jaw to his throat, biting gently without leaving any marks, though part of him regretted it. He longed to mark Merlin as his, though he knew the court would never accept him having a male lover, even if he could make it legal.

Merlin came first, suddenly and without warning, his back arching as much as he could with Arthur on top of him, heat spraying across both of them in waves of white. It was too much for Arthur, and he came moments later, his seed mixing with Merlin's in pools on their skin.

“That was amazing.” Merlin blinked up at him, sleepy and satisfied, reduced to a limp puddle on Arthur’s bed.

“That was only the tip of the iceberg.” Arthur kissed him one last time; they had broken the law, decimated it completely, and now he saw no reason to not lie with Merlin again. Not when there was still so much he longed to teach him.

“What time is it?”

“Sunset.” Arthur peeked outside after getting dressed. 

“Do you need anything else today?” Merlin stood up, his legs shaking slightly as the boneless feeling slowly left him.

“Just dinner, then you can go and get some sleep; the first time takes it out of you.”

“Dinner for one?” Merlin looked at Arthur expectantly.

“Better make it for two. If anyone asks, imply that I’m with a girl, but give no names.”

“Got it.” As Merlin hurried from the room to get a romantic dinner for them to share, Arthur’s gaze dropped to his ass, already planning what he wanted to do to him next. Maybe even later that night, if Merlin wasn’t too tired. If he was, he could wait. There was no need to rush.

**Author's Note:**

> Please visit my profile for more information on how to support me as a writer.


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